Values and Valuation of Modern and Contemporary Visual Art: The Role of Reflective Practice

Research Project Description
This research will focus on articulating a conceptual framework and standards for a multi-criteria system of valuation in the following stages: 1) study of current valuation models (e.g. the model developed by RCE) in the light of contemporary art conservation theory and 2) investigation of these models in practice – with an emphasis on if and how values and valuation are articulated in the discourses and practices of conservation itself. The researcher will observe conservation practices through case studies provided by INCCA-CEE (chair INCCA – Central Eastern Europe) and the Muzeum Sztuki in Łódź (where Ms Kiliszek will do a research internship), and by the other NACCA projects.
Values will be presented in context of Museum Sztuki in Łodź as an very unique and important collection in Europe which was already established shortly after the collection of the MOMA in New York by exchange of works among avant-garde artists in 1930. Different types of actors may assign or prioritize different types of values to an artwork, such as art-historical (including artistic and aesthetic) values, emotive values, functional values, educational values, and social, political or economic values. In order to come to a responsible conservation strategy, a great variety of values should be taken into account and their historical development acknowledged.

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Joanna Kiliszek (right) with Prof. Iwona Szmelter. Photo by Aga Wielocha
Researcher
Joanna Kiliszek

Bio
Joanna Kiliszek is a historian of art and curator specialized in the contemporary art. She holds a Master’s degree in Art History from the Art History Department at the University of Warsaw and studied also at Faculty of Arts and Humanities of the University of Cologne (History of Art, Film, Theatre and Television Studies, Slavic Studies). Previously she was the Deputy Director of the Adam-Mickiewicz-Institute/Warsaw, 2008–2014, and Director of the Polish Cultural Institute/Berlin, 2001–2007. Initiator, researcher and coordinator of the Polish nationwide project Visual Invisible: Visual Arts in Poland: Condition, Role and Significance conducted at the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw, 2014–2016. Member of the Polish Section of the International Association of Art Critics AICA.

Home Institution
Faculty of Conservation–Restoration of Works of Art
Academy of Fine Arts
Warsaw, Poland

Supervisor
Prof. dr. Iwona Szmelter, Faculty of Conservation–Restoration of Works of Art, Academy of Fine Arts Warsaw

Project Partners
Muzeum sztuki, Łódź
Fundacja Archeologia Fotografii, Warsaw

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